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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark McGivern

Tartan Army will stand united with Ukraine at rescheduled play-off - until game begins

Scotland fans are planning a show of solidarity with Ukraine when the two countries clash in a rescheduled World Cup qualifier in June.

The match was meant to be played on March 24 at Hampden but that date has now been scrapped after a request from Ukraine to global football authority Fifa.

Tartan Army spokesman Hamish Husband admitted there will be huge global support for the Ukraine team.

And he confirmed that Scotland fans were already planning how to show their support for the Ukraine players and fans - until the 90 minutes kicks off.

He said: “There’s a lot going on here, emotionally as well as in a sporting way, and the Tartan Army will make it very clear, first and foremost, that they stand with Ukraine against Russian oppression.

“I am assuming that the invasion will still be ongoing by June but we simply don’t know.

“It’s a very unusual, extraordinary situation, where the focus of the world will be on Hampden and everyone will be willing the other team to win.

“But that’s ok. We’d be exactly the same if Ukraine were playing any other team.

“The big challenge for Scotland is to get our players focused on what they are doing on the pitch. As soon as the first whistle has blown they need to forget all that is going on, all about war and economic sanctions, because football has to be settled on the park.”

Husband said he expects the Ukrainian players to be “supercharged” for the match.

He said: “We can see how proud these people are and the passion they have for their country. This will result in a massive motivational boost.

“We saw a similar thing in the Euros last year, when Denmark seemed to get incredibly pumped up after their star player Christian Eriksen was stretchered off and his life was in peril. The team solidarity went into overdrive.”

Husband said plans being considered by the Tartan Army to show their solidarity with their fellow fans include draping Ukrainian flags in the city centre.

He also suggested that Tartan Army members could, safety allowing, follow the lead of one woman who put a wooly-hatted traffic cone of the head of the famous Duke of Wellington statue in the city.

He said: “I wouldn’t wish to encourage anyone to do anything risky or reckless but for one match only it might be a nice gesture to see all viable statues decked out in Ukraine hats.

“There’s no doubt that fans will have their thinking caps on in terms of putting on an appropriate welcome that shows the world that we stand with the people of Ukraine.

“There will quite possibly be some mingling and singing in the city, although the tone of that might be dependent on what events unfold in Ukraine on the next couple of months.”

The Scottish Football Association was told by Fifa on Monday of the decision to postpone the tie.

Official confirmation is expected to come within the next 48 hours with Uefa currently tasked with organising a match schedule for the new June dates as well as rearranging the Nations League games due to take place then.

It is understood Wales and Austria will also have their play-off semi-final put back to the summer.

The winners of that tie play the winners between Scotland and Ukraine.

The eventual winners of that mini series of matches gets a place at the World Cup Finals in Qatar in December.

Bookmakers have continued to keep Scotland as very marginal favourites to win the match against Ukraine.

The SFA set aside 3,000 tickets for away fans, all of which are expected to be taken up by Ukrainians from Scotland and the rest of the UK.

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